40 comments:

They are looking cute. Did you have to bribe them to stand so patiently?

Whenever I see a chihuahua I giggle because my grandmother insisted on calling them chee-hooah-hooahs. It didn't matter how often we told her the correct pronunciation, showed her dictionaries or got others to confirm it she insisted we were wrong and she was right. Of course, she was right about everything so we should have known better.

We used to have a little mixed breed dog named Ziggy that looked kinda like Miyuki, only Ziggy was tan. Ziggy was a rescue. One day when I picked up our cat at the vet's, he said, Mrs. Myers, let me show you something.

I should have grabbed the cat and run, but I didn't. He showed me a little dog that had been hit by a car. The motorist took him to the vet and paid for his care and boarding, but the money had long run out. Even though my husband only wanted German Shepherd dogs (which is why the vet didn't approach my husband about this dog), the vet knew I was a soft touch.

As I looked at this little dog, with BIG eyes looking directly at me, in a cage, the vet said, I can't afford to care for him any longer. If you don't take him, I'll have to... And with that, I took him home and named him Ziggy.

Our children were preschoolers back then and newly diagnosed as asthmatic. Severely asthmatic. In and out of the hospital via frantic ER visits. At a time when precious little was known about pediatric asthma. Eventually, it became obvious that we could no longer allow pets in our home. The shepherds lived outside, but our cat Petrushka and little Ziggy would have to go. Thank God I was able to find good homes for both, but I never got over having to say goodbye to them.

Wow, I hadn't intended to go into all that, but seeing Miyuki brought it all back.

Whose puppies are these? Cynthia? I used to have a Japanese Chin named Seymour. He was a fiesty little guy, and after he passed, it took me a couple of years to get another dog. It broke my heart when he died, but that is part of having dogs I suppose. These 3 look a wonderful little crew.

Three dogs AND cats! My two make me crazy, well, partially because I have kids added into the mix. They're a cute group! I'm impressed that ? got them to pose together so well. My two can look posed, but it's a miracle we ever caught them still long enough to snap a few pics-took a lot of chicken!

Kitty It's so sad to give up a dog. I've had those blue-lipped asthma runs with a child. Scary business!

I'll give you guys a hint: these aren't mine, but mine will make an appearance.

Timothy: Goodness, you people are SO competitive! I wonder who's the most competitive? Maybe we should have a contest to see who's the most competitive. Perhaps a flash contest... ;)

I'm with those who would like the owners of the adorable animals on show this month identified. I expect Janet hasn't provided this information out of respect for privacy, so it's up to us to make ourselves known...

Don't Forget!During Janet's reading hiatus, you can visit other Reider blogs by visiting our list of Carkoon's Most Wanted. If you'd like to be added to the list, just email me, and I'll get you on there ASAP. My email address is in my Blogger profile.

Sweet dogs! I would've sent in a picture of my cats, but they don't get along well. One of the cats belongs to my housemate, and we adopted them when we still lived in separate apartments. Unfortunately, they were from the same shelter - so they already knew (and disliked!) each other. Now they're roomies (oops)!

We've got a few scratches and some hissing, but for the most part, they're doing pretty well. But getting them to pose together? Nuh-uh!

Pure tee cuteness right there. Seeing how happy they look together is encouraging, and makes me think of the ongoing debate here at the house.

We've been thinking about a friend for Little Dog. I wish there were some way to know, okay, here's the dog, and now, let's give them a few visits together to see how it all goes. Not easy to do when I'm leaning towards a rescue.

Then again, I think, why upset Little Dog's apple cart? I read somewhere, "don't buy a pet for your pet." There's a lot of truth in that. Yet, I also feel like he's lonely at times. IDK. On the fence.

Donna, I am having same debate about getting another dog or possibly cat, but Frankie is such a pampered pup. Still, I feel like she gets lonely and a little more life in my empty nest might be quite nice. I am not sure. Same debate.

I used to have two cats, but they did not get along. I lived with it for over 12 years, then one day Meemeej disappeared. I still think Mehitabel put a contract out on her. Reather than being distressed that her sister kitty was gone, she purred and smiled.I have not gotten another cat. Mehitabel seems fine with being an only cat.

Donna, when we got our second dog through a rescue, we were able to do a few visits with our dog, both in their home and ours. They actually preferred it as they want good placements. I would give up on that idea if you decide on a furry friend.

Those three are very cute indeed! I'd like to know who's the boss dog? Looks like Tinkerbell is trying to muscle her way past Gizmo. And I sympathize with your efforts to get 2 or more critters to look at the camera at the same time - very challenging!

OK, I have to share this with you guys. My wife was playing Scattergories with the kids last night. I guess the letter they rolled was "D." I was in another room, so SecondBorn yells to me, "Hey, Dad--can I list you as an Author?" I hesitated maybe a heartbeat before replying, "Yes, I suppose you can." :D

What was the first thing out of my mouth when I saw today's blog post? The same thing every time a see a dog.

Awwwwwww, the puppies!

AJ: Did your grandmother watch WKRP in Cincinnatti? That's assuming you got American TV shows in the 70s. Les Nessman was the senior newsman at the radio station, and he mispronounced everything that wasn't plain English. Including chihooahooa.

Donna: If you go through a local dog rescue, they'll often let you meet the dog first, and you can usually bring your pets. After all, they want the dog to remain in your home for it's whole life, and if it doesn't get along with the resident dog, that's not going to happen. Ask around.

Koko was my heart dog. When he was about 12, I started thinking about getting another dog. I was fostering for a rescue at the time, and I got this little foster dog I just fell in love with. I kept Little Girl Dog. She was ten years Koko's junior.

My mother was perturbed. She thought that Koko would be put out, that one dog was enough. But Koko had never had a problem with any of the foster dogs - in fact, they all seemed to love him. He and LGD got along fine. Then, as Koko got older, he became deaf and blind. Still a happy-go-lucky little guy, though. But sometimes he'd find himself not where he thought he was. He'd try to go through a wall, and because he expected a doorway there, he would scratch at the wall to open it. Little Girl Dog would show him where the doorway actually was, and if she couldn't get him out of his predicament (he tried going through the closet one time), she'd come get me. When I'd come home from work, he no longer heard me, but she'd go wake him up, and he'd come meet me, as happy as anything. Put out? Koko? No.

Oh, what a great picture! Cats just aren't always as cooperative, are they? (not to paint them with a broad brush....)

The first chihuahua encounter of my life was a lady who lived on the same block as my grandparents. The sidewalk dipped in front of that house, and I liked running back and forth on it when I was itty bitty, and she had a dowager chihuahua named Penny. Later, a friend's girlfriend-for-awhile had a chihuahua named Lieutenant. I don't think I've ever met a Japanese Chin, but one of our friends has two poms, and they just got re-clipped for the summer and look like adorable little teddy bears.

When Elka was younger, we considered adding a second (smaller) dog (though if we had the space for it, I'd fill the house with Dobermans), but didn't for a variety of reasons. My big mistake with her was not finding other dogs to socialize with during that crucial developmental window, so at this point, she really doesn't know what to do when confronted with another dog, and would rather they just went away.

It's recently come to my attention that Pomeranians are larger than I thought they were. On our morning walk, we always encounter the dog we call "the happiest dog in the world" and its person. We finally asked the dog's person what breed "happiest dog" was and were told it was a Pomeranian (I never would've guessed -- I always thought they were comparable to chihuahuas in size). I swear, Pomeranians must be one of the happiest-looking breeds around -- and Gizmo is apparently no exception!

Peggy - Poms are supposed to be small these days but Gizmo is 15 pounds and pretty tall. He was a rescue. One of the parents was a Pom and the other was a chihuahua. 2 of the puppies looked like chihuahuas and 2 looked like Pomeranians. According to our vet (when I asked him how on earth he ended up so big) Pomeranians used to be sled dogs and occasionally oe reverts. I believe it. He can walk forever without getting tired. He also looks bigger than he is since the girls truly are tiny.

Interesting! We definitely have a pecking order going on with our two dogs. The older one, Juno, is the boss, but she let's our younger dog, Zuzu, hog all the attention. Juno's more interested in food and balls than human adoration. She tolerates us :-)

Cynthia: you may not have a boss dog but I know you have an instigator. My money is on it being Tinkerbell. She looks to be gathering her energy to bust up the picture. Looks like you snapped it just in time.

Inherited dogs. I have had a couple of those and can not handle another. Now we have cats.

BJ, in the 70s (and 80s) we only had 2 TV stations - the ABC (in this case the Australian Broadcasting Corp) and a commercial channel. So yes, we did get some American TV shows, but not many. Would doubt that one made it here.

I absolutely adore pomeranians. My parents adopted a pom from the pound (Dad and I were supposed to choose a large, short haired dog and came home with a small furball). They now have 2 18month old poms, Skipper and Merlin, who are brothers. Skipper is completely laid back and Merlin is a watch dog who tries to talk. Because his 'talking' is growling everyone thinks he's a mean dog, but he is actually a big softy who loves cuddles.

Cynthia, they really are very cute. They look so happy and well behaved. I also thought Poms were smaller than that, but I'm not sure why as I don't think I've ever seen one. We always had black labs and I don't think I could have a small dog-- I'd be too afraid I'd step on it.

And I absolutely love that blue bench. Now I want to visit your garden and sit on that bench and enjoy looking at all the flora and fauna you've talked about down there.

It always amazes me that three dogs will sit for a picture. Trying to get two cats to sit for a photo is like, well, herding ghosts. Now you see; 'em now you don't. I went on a vacation for 3 days and missed submitting may cats ... sigh ... so I'll just comment and enjoy the Beauty Beast Pageant!

I don't know how many of you belong to Bookperk, but they have a special going on right now, because we all need more books. Two of them are collections of C.S. Lewis letters for $1.99 each that are normally $16.99 and $27.99.

OK, I must admit it, I gave in to the false gods for my scary short story. The free story is here on smashwords,com if you like mildly scary stuff: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/649944

I am finding short story writing better practice than writing the next novel, which has been put on hold.

Short story is 'The Scare-It', after a word I made up when I was little and unable to say the word skeleton. My uncle teased me mercilessly about Scare-Its for years. The story is about a scary creature made of bone on a NY dairy farm - it is turning into a novelette, but should max out at 15K.

BJ - That is such a sweet story about Little Girl Dog looking after Koko - pulls on my heart strings.I don't have a dog but my cousin always has two - an old dog and a young one. She says the older one really helps with training and looking after the puppy. It makes sense that their roles would be reversed as they got older.

We were Big Dog people. Hubby grew up with Labs and German Shepherds. I had Collies. A friend of ours raised Golden Retrievers and gifted us with one for the kids' birthday years ago. We laugh that we ended up in Pseudo-Dog territory but we did. I blame St. Francis. I'm sure he whispers to every lost dog/cat/bird/squirrel "Go there. They'll take you in." And we do.

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